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Obesity increases the risk for kidney failure

Being overweight
has most commonly been associated with higher risk for hypertension and
diabetes and the complications of those conditions. Researchers have considered
one of the complications of high blood pressure and diabetes to be kidney
failure, but in a recent research article Dr. Chi-yuan Hsu and his colleagues
(Ann Int Med 2006;144(1):21-28) report that increasing
weight is in and of itself a risk factor for renal disease--independent
of whether there is involvement of hypertension or diabetes.

In the last twenty years in the United States the number of people with
ESRD (End Stage Renal Disease, or kidney failure) has doubled, and the
number of U.S. citizens affected is expected to increase to over 650,000
by the year 2010. At the same time, obesity is increasing, and Dr. Hsu
looked at whether there is a link between the rising rate of obesity and
kidney failure.

The study was based on information collected from members of the Kaiser
Permanente health plan who agreed to participate in health testing between
1964 and 1985. Body Mass Index (BMI) was calculated from the data and then
linked to cases of ESRD found in the U.S. Renal Data System through the
year 2000.

The researchers then adjusted their analysis to account for variables
like blood pressure and diabetes. When the data was analyzed, the results
showed a clear association with rising BMI and risk for ESRD. No difference
in the rate of kidney failure was found for age, gender or race. The results
were in many cases based on a single measurement, but when those participants
with more than with one measure were considered the results were similar.
This conclusion supports a recent similar study of data collected in Framingham,
Massachusetts.